• Beidi Dong, Clair M White, and David L Weisburd.
• Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. Electronic address: bdong@gmu.edu.
• Am J Prev Med. 2020 Jun 1; 58 (6): 799806799-806.

IntroductionThe geographic overlap of violence and poor health is a major public health concern. To understand whether and how place-based interventions targeting micro-geographic places can reduce this undesirable co-occurrence, the study addresses 2 important questions. First, to what extent are deteriorated health conditions associated with living at violent crime hot spots? Second, through what mechanisms can focused place-based interventions break the association between living with violence and deteriorated health?MethodsThis study used survey data from 2,724 respondents living on 328 street segments that were categorized as violent crime hot spots (181 segments with 1,532 respondents) versus non-hot spots (147 segments with 1,192 respondents) in 2013-2014 in Baltimore, Maryland. Propensity score analysis assessed whether individuals living at violent crime hot spots had lower general health perceptions than people living at non-hot spots. Marginal structural models estimated the proportion of total effects mediated by 3 theoretically informed intervening mechanisms. Analyses were conducted in 2019.ResultsRespondents living at violent crime hot spots had a lower level of self-rated general health (b= -0.096, 95% CI= -0.176, -0.015) and higher levels of health limitations (b=0.068, 95% CI=0.027, 0.109) and problems (OR=2.026, 95% CI=1.225, 3.349) than those living at non-hot spots. Enhanced perceptions of safety, collective efficacy, and police legitimacy may break the association between living in places with extremely high levels of violence and deteriorated health.ConclusionsIndicated or selective strategies are urgently needed to target micro-geographic locations with known increased risks, supplementing universal strategies applied to a broader community.Copyright © 2020 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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